The first line of questioning after I deliver a presentation on the changing communications landscape typically goes something like this:

We’re not set up to operate like this. How do I get started? How do I get “Legal” to lighten up so that we can actually engage in the conversation? And finally, it’s not like my team has a bunch of free time on their hands; who’s going to do all this work?

There is no one right set of answers, in large part because every corporation or institution has its own culture, and its own set of self- and in some cases government-imposed rules within which it chooses or must operate. But there is one thing every company can do: help their customers solve their problems faster.

I can’t help thinking about a conversation that Pete Blackshaw and I had almost three years ago about customer service. (a book he's written on the subject is [finally] due out on July 8). Let's face it... when people have a bad experience with a product or service, they either call a hotline and/or they talk about it with their friends – online and off.

What if you actually went hunting for complaints, and empowered your employees to proactively address them – in something approaching real time?

Your customers would notice it, and instead of complaining about you, they’d be giving you credit for listening and responding. Your competitors would notice it, because your volume and share of online conversation, and your search engine rankings would be on the rise. And so on. Everyone you care about would see the change, talk about it, and attempt – sooner or later – to emulate it.

This is happening, folks. A handful of clients and a handful of our clients’ competitors are already doing this. They’re listening to the conversation on blogs and boards, in social networks. Some of them have even started to use Twitter and opinion-aggregators like Summize.

You already know who they are, because they’re the ones being held up as the gold standard in the trade pubs and blogs, and they’re the ones on the dais at every major event as the poster brands for getting it right. And every time you read or hear about someone else, you shake your head and say to yourself,” I wish we could do that.”

My advice to you is this: run, don’t walk to Legal. Talk to them about what WILL happen if you’re unfortunate enough to run afoul of ONE influential conversationalist. Show them a few of the well documented case studies out there. Make it real and relevant by quantifying YOUR risk, because that’s a language they understand. What would a 1% drop in share price or a 1% loss in sales for 90 or 180 days cost the company? How about 5% of 10% hits to each?

Then, tell them that you can help them dramatically mitigate that risk if they’ll simply let you listen to, talk with and collaborate with your customers.

I’m not saying this is a shoo-in, but this will be, for most organizations, the easiest way in, and the easiest way to generate some small wins quickly. Who knows... maybe you’ll be the success story we’re all talking about this time next year.